1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the medical field and more particularly refers to a cabinet for containing medical items or articles and, still more particularly the invention refers to a mobile device for containing, carrying, displaying and dispensing medical articles such as sutures, surgical instruments, catheters, pads and several other material that may be needed in Health Centers, Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, Operating Rooms, Physician Offices, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to provide suture dispenser boxes for containing sutures and facilitating the dispensing thereof by means of several supports, envelopes, pouches, winding fixtures and similar devices, all for containing individual suture units. These several packages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,491,218; 5,460,263; 5,667,155; 5,675,961; 5,788,062; 5,912,818; 5,860,517 and 5,988,367.
These packages are generally stocked in a safe room outside the operating room or the emergency room where such materials are usually necessary. Upon an emergency or a programmed surgical operation a surgery assistant must select some sutures among those ones indicated by the physician and bring the individual suture packages to the emergency or operating room. While this seems to be not so important in a programmed operation, the time taken by selecting the sutures and bringing the suture packages to the room where they must be used becomes of extreme importance upon an emergency event occurring in an emergency room or during an operation.
It would be therefore convenient to have a device capable of accommodating and organizing several medical articles in order to have an easy and quick access to the articles when they are needed, the device being preferably capable of being moved and carried by one person with all the desired material for supplying the material in sterile conditions in the desired room.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for carrying several items, such as medical items, and for displaying the articles, as well as for providing easy and quick access to the articles during an emergency in an emergency room, or during a surgical operation in an operating room.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device for carrying and displaying medical articles, wherein the device comprises an upper cabinet with a top transparent lid hinged to a back wall of the cabinet and capable of being opened around the hinged connection, the cabinet housing a plurality of boxes that in turn define corresponding divisions by a plurality of partition walls, for organizing the articles into separate spaces within each box, the cabinet being mounted at an upper end of a supporting stand for mounting the device from the floor.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device for carrying and displaying medical articles, the device comprising an upper forwardly inclined cabinet defined by a bottom wall and front, back and side walls upwardly extending from the bottom wall and a top lid having a back portion hinged to the back wall and a front portion, wherein the lid can be lifted by upwardly pulling from the lid for pivoting the lid around the hinged portion and opening the box in order to have access to an interior of the cabinet; a plurality of upwardly open boxes within the cabinet, each box defined by a floor and front, back and side walls upwardly extending from the floor of the box, with the front wall being forwardly inclined and defining a viewer containing indicia related to the articles housed in the box; a plurality of partition walls for organizing the articles into separate spaces within each box, each partition wall including at least one window tab for containing specific indicia related to the articles housed in an associated space; locking means in the lid and cabinet for locking the lid into a closed position in the cabinet; and a supporting stand for mounting the device from the floor.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be better understood when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and description.